The present invention relates to a display element frame preferably used to retain a display element of a liquid crystal display (LCD).
In recent years, the spread of liquid crystal displays (LCD) has become widespread as image display devices for personal computers and other various types of monitors. Generally, such a liquid crystal display (LCD) has a back light used as a sheet light source for lighting, which is disposed at the rear side of the LCD panel, so that the light is irradiated in uniform all over the liquid crystal surface having a predetermined area so as to visualize images formed on the LCD surface.
A liquid crystal display (LCD) comprises an LCD panel with a liquid crystal material interposed between two glass substrates; a circuit board mounted on the LCD panel and used to drive the LCD panel; a back light unit disposed on the rear side of the LCD panel with an LCD panel frame therebetween; and an armor frame for covering those items.
Various methods for retaining an LCD panel are disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Applications No. 9-304754, No. 10-68932, No. 10-214047, No. 10-319378, etc.
FIGS. 11 and 12 shows one of those methods. In FIGS. 11 and 12, an LCD panel 60 having a circuit board 61, the circuit board 61, and a frame 62 is shown. FIG. 11 shows a case in which the LCD panel 60 and the circuit board 61 are separated from the frame 62 and FIG. 12 shows a case in which the LCD panel 60 is retained by the frame 62.
The frame 62 has stoppers 62a to 62d disposed at the four corners of the frame 62 so as to retain the LCD panel 60. The stopper 62a retains a corner of the LCD panel 60 and the stoppers 62b to 62d retain notches 60a formed at a boundary between the LCD panel 60 and the circuit board 61 respectively.
The frame 62 is a solid molded one made of plastic unitarily with the stoppers 62a to 62d. A predetermined clearance is necessary between each of the stoppers 62a to 62d and the LCD panel 60. Concretely, if the clearance is zero, the LCD panel 60 cannot be stored in the frame 62. On the contrary, if the clearance is excessively large, the LCD panel 60 cannot be retained surely. In addition, if the clearance is large, the LCD panel 60 might cause the LCD panel 60 to hit the stoppers 62a to 62d when a vibration and/or a shock is applied to the frame 62, resulting in a damage of the LCD panel 60 or the stoppers 62a to 62d. 
Those problems, however, can be solved if the frame 62 and the LCD panel 60 are formed accurately. In spite of this, because the dimensional accuracy of both plastic composing the frame 62 and glass for composing the LCD panel 60 is not high, it becomes quite expensive to obtain such a high dimensional accuracy. Especially for a large sized liquid crystal display (LCD).
Liquid crystal displays (LCD) have come to be employed more and more for such portable devices as lap-top personal computers. As known well, lap-top personal computers are apt to be affected by vibration and shock more than desk-top personal computers. Even when a proper clearance is secured between each of the stoppers 62a to 62d and the LCD panel, a large vibration/shock, when applied to a lap-top personal computer, might damage the LCD panel 60 or the stoppers 62a to 62d. For example, if a lap-top personal computer falls, the LCD panel 60 will be fatally damaged, resulting in loss of the display element. In order to avoid such damages, the LCD panels 60 employed for portable electronic devices should preferably be retained so as to absorb the vibration/shock more effectively.
Because the stoppers 62a to 62d are made of plastic, they can absorb vibration and shock to a certain degree. If they receive a large vibration/shock they will not be able to absorb the vibration/shock completely. To absorb such vibrations/shocks completely, it became effective to retain the LCD panel 60 in a softer material, for example, rubber stock at the stoppers 62a to 62d. In this case, the LCD panel 60 must have reduced thickness in accordance to the thickness of the stock rubber. This means narrowing the display area of the LCD panel 60. For a liquid crystal display, it is a very important technical concept to reduce the frame in width, that is, to secure a wider display area of the LCD panel 60. Thus, narrowing the display area goes against the technical concept trying to be achieved. In addition, using rubber in such a way will increase the manufacturing cost of the frame 62.
The stoppers 62a to 62d of the conventional frame 62 are formed to compose cantilever beams with respect to the frame 62 as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. Consequently, a deflection from the fixed end, caused by external forces, causes movement of the LCD panel 60. However, the movement will be very small, since the stoppers 62a to 62d are not so high. Especially, such a movement is not recognized at the lower end, that is, at the fixed end. This is why the frame 62 and the LCD panel 60 have to be manufactured at a high dimensional accuracy respectively and they have been confronted with a problem of weak resistance to vibration/shock as described above.
It is not impossible for the conventional open sided beam type stoppers to have a large movement of the stoppers as described above. However, the present inventor has found that if the LCD panel frame, when formed unitarily with other necessary parts in a certain pattern, enables the stoppers to be moved largely in a planar direction.
The present inventor intends to solve the above problems by providing a frame that can be made of plastic and formed unitarily with other necessary parts, thereby preventing an increase in manufacturing cost of the frame over that of the conventional prior art.
Under such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a frame capable of retaining an LCD panel properly even when the dimensional accuracy of both frame and LCD panel is low. It is another object of the present invention to provide a frame capable of absorbing a vibration/shock more effectively than the conventional frame even when a large vibration/shock is applied to such a portable device, such as a lap-top personal computer, without reducing the display area.
A feature of the present invention is to provide a frame for retaining an LCD panel with a liquid crystal material interposed between two glass substrates disposed so as to face each other. The frame has a frame body for placing the panel, an arm attached to the frame body oscillatably in a planar direction of the frame body, and a stopper formed at the arm so as to be protruded from the frame body and restrict the movement of the planar member in a planar direction.
Another feature of the present invention also provides a liquid crystal display (LCD) having an LCD panel composed of two laminated glass substrate. A back light unit is included for irradiating a light to the LCD panel. A frame is disposed between the LCD panel and the back light unit and is used to hold the LCD panel and restrict the movement of the LCD panel in the planar direction. The frame has a rectangular frame body with a predetermined thickness and an arm formed unitarily with the frame body at one of the corners of the frame body so that its one end becomes a fixed end and the other end becomes a free end with respect to the frame body within a range of the thickness of the frame body. A movable stopper is erected at the free end of the arm and is used to restrict the movement of the LCD panel.
Still another feature of the present invention includes a portable device having a rectangular glass substrate for composing a display element, as well as first and second controlling members for controlling the movement of the glass substrate in the planar direction. The first controlling member is disposed at one of the two sides composing a corner of the glass substrate and the second controlling member is provided at the other side. The first and second controlling members are movable in the horizontal direction with respect to the glass substrate.
Hereunder, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.